An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 21 Picking up a colleague with no arms, no legs and no head is not an easy task, and the war ploughed on regardless. The search for our fourth colleague resumed throughout the day with no success and on the third day it was decided that we would transfer the three remains through the Technical Fence to UNTSO colleagues. The difficulties of carrying out this operation during a war, and with the Lebanese side of the fence mined in most areas, meant that we spent some four hours trying to approach a gate in the fence that both our- selves and the IDF could access from our respective sides. Finally, at UN Position 9-64 we spotted an old track that led down to a large yellow gate in the technical fence. After knocking down the UN pe- rimeter fence we crossed the 60m stretch of no man's land that had not been mine swept since the IDF with- drawal in 2000. Three times we carried out this procedure as we transferred our fallen comrades to our UNTSO colleagues. At the end we lined up and held a minute's silence in their honour. Needless to say, the noise of war- fare all around us made it all the more poignant. On 28 July we were ordered to travel back to PB Mar, collect our remaining colleagues and evacuate the position. As jets and artillery boomed all around the villages, we took the laptops and important files, burned the rest, spiked the diesel tanks, and, finally, took down the UN flag; another surreal moment in an increasingly surreal war. Like Major Stanfield's earlier patrol to Naquora, ours was to be eventful as well. We had barely managed to get as far as Tibnin when shelling broke out and we rushed to Ghanbatt HQ, where we spent over two days. From there we crisscrossed south Lebanon in a desperate attempt to find passable roads. At last, we rumbled into Naquora to an emotional reunion with the rest of our OGL comrades; and still the war raged on. Finally, on 14 August a ceasefire was declared and we prepared to reoccupy our three remaining PBs. Returning to PB Mar the devastation in every village was incred- ible; houses, schools, mosques, monasteries, hospitals, all flattened or at the very least badly damaged. Yet the mood of the locals was extremely supportive of us as we gingerly patrolled the shattered landscape of our area of operations. The IDF, who were still deployed, awaiting the full deployment of the Lebanese Army, only patrolled during the hours of darkness. Observing their movements resulted in a number of our night vision devices being rendered inoperable after being 'lased' with laser range finders on Merkava tanks. Eventually, we were able to do a systematic search of the ruins of PB Khiam, a harrowing experience, and, with engineer assets, discovered the remains of our fourth colleague. A similar sombre operation was conducted to transfer his remains through the tech- nical fence to UNTSO personnel for a medical identification. Gradu- ally the Lebanese Army deployed into the south, the IDF withdrew, and Lebanon began to rebuild itself. As we patrolled, it was necessary to keep a sharp eye out for ex- plosive remnants of war and hardly a day passed without us having to mark and report unexploded artillery shells, aerial bombs and cluster bombs, (small, lethal antipersonnel devices that were fired in their thousands towards Lebanese villages in the last days of the war). Lebanese civilians were still being killed in 2016 as a result of those cluster bomb strikes in 2006. In eight days that summer, OGL, with a prewar strength of 52, lost over 10% of its strength and 50% of its positions. This article is dedicated to the memory of those who paid the ultimate price and those whose lives have been changed utterly as a result of injuries received, serving in the cause of peace. • Major Hans-Peter Lang, Austria. KIA (killed in action) • Major Paeta Derek Hess-von Kruedener, Canada, KIA • Lieutenant Senior Grade Jarno Mäkinen, Finland, KIA • Major (posthumously promoted Lieutenant Colonel) Du Zhaoyu, China. KIA • Captain (now Colonel) Roberto Punzo, Italy, WIA (wounded in action) • Major Matina Stanfield, Australia, WIA Clare McDonald being evacuated

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